The Chief Justice nominee, Justice Gertrude Torkornoo says that she disagrees with the popular perception that most judges do the bidding of their appointing authority.
According to her, their workload as Judges as far as the ordinary Ghanaian is concerned is very much unrelated to the appointing authority and hence have little influence on their act of service.
“I think if there’s such a perception, it is a wrong perception, because the load of our work with respect to the ordinary Ghanaian hardly has anything to do with appointing authorities, on a daily basis we are adjudicating tens and hundreds of cases involving the “ordinary joe”,” she said.
Justice Torkornoo also emphasised that Judges give decisions based on independence.
“Independence is always linked with law and as long as our decisions are premised on law, they must be presumed to have been arrived at independently,” she mentioned.
She added that as the leader of the judicial arm of government, she would ensure that judicial independence is appreciated by the ordinary Ghanaian by having consistent engagement.
“Consistent engagement with the community of Ghana, through the media regarding how the adjudication process functions and consistent engagement with judges themselves and with judicial service staff,” she explained.
Parliament today, Friday, May 26, vetted. Justice Gertrude Torkornoo for the post of Chief Justice.
President Akufo-Addo in April nominated her to replace the now-retired Chief Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah.
The President subsequently informed Parliament of his decision and called for her speedy approval.
He explained that was to avoid any vacuum that would occur following the retirement of the then Chief Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah.
Accordingly Justice Mrs. Torkornoo was vetted by Parliament.
She will become the third female Chief Justice in the history of Ghana after Justices Georgina Theodora Wood and Sophia Akuffo.
